I just wanted to share some pictures and experience with my new lathe. I am relatively new to turning, but have a good bit of wood working experience. I first became interested in turning about 4 years ago but had so much stuff going on in my life, new baby, work, etc. that it was not till this last fathers day that my wife bought me a mini lathe. I quickly discovered I was hooked on turning and decided I wanted a bigger lathe as my interest was more towards bowls and hollow forms and I was abusing the mini.
I had been looking at full size lathes for the last 4 years and have gone from wanting the mild to the wild. I guess my dream lathe has been the big Vic VL300 long bed but I quickly realized it is a monster of a lathe and I was running out of shop space fast and was not very practical for me at this time not only because of space but cost was also a factor.
When I finally decided I was going to upgrade to a larger lathe I finally came to my senses and decided that a mid range lathe was more in my budget but still needed to fit in my shop. While I have a pretty large shop by most standards 25'x35' It is shared with my wife who is a silversmith and also serves as a reloading room for my competitive shooting habit and other duties such as laundry, insecticide storage, and other household duties including all my other woodworking equipment.
The 3 lathes I considered was the PM 3520B, Jet 1642, and the Nova DVR XP. With the 3520 and the Jet I still ran into footprint issues and the Nova had many features I liked especially the footprint, but being a benchtop lathe I knew I would have to get into design and construction mode to come up with a stable platform for the lathe and I was unsure if I felt like tackling such a project because of the time involved. I also have had a chance to play with both the PM and the jet but did not have a chance to turn on the DVR. The October Woodcraft sale along with the recent tilt away hinge accessory for the bed extension sent me over the edge. I still wanted to be able to turn longer spindles as the need arose but did not want a permanent long bed lathe. I purchased the DVR package and started to work a few hours a week on the stand. I did not finish this stand until about the middle of this month and did not get a chance to do much turning until this last week.
Needless to say I am beyond pleased with its performance and very proud how well it came out. I had posted progress shots on some other forums as the building progressed but wanted to hold off and see how it performed before posting here. I am always humbled by the talent that post here. I am generally a lurker unless I feel I can give useful constructive content. I think in this case while some of the content may not be new, I think it is in how it relates to the DVR and may be of assistant to others with the same lathe or wanting to build a stable stand.
The stand is all constructed of scrap steel purchased from a local recycling steel sales yard. Total investment in steel is about $150 The construction was done in my shop and a friend that has a fabrication shop that allows me to use his tools. Of course there was the lunch fees. I always took my buddy to lunch in appreciation of use of tools and his shop. About $20 each visit and about 5 of those. Also the leveling casters, rod ends, and tube adapters, and electrical were about another $250. So I guess about $500 total investment in the stand.
The weight of the entire package is north of 830lbs. with ballast installed. There is about 70lbs. of sand in the center tube that the lathe bolts to as a vibration damper, and another seven 50lb. bags of sand in the ballast box. The majority of the steel is 3/16" steel with a few pieces of 5/8", 1/4" and 1/2" steel. All the fabrication and welding was done by myself and all the welds were done with the TIG except four welds where I could not get the torch head in a good position so I MIG'ed those areas.
The stand is incredibly rigid and stable. I could probably increased stability even more if I splayed the legs toward the front but wanted clear area for my feet and with the weight it is a very stable platform. Two areas that I am particularly proud of is the bar with the rod ends that support the swing away bed section. I wanted to make that section as stable as possible but still make it a quick setup. This worked very well as can be seen by me sitting on the bed section. It is also a quick set up because it attaches with clevis pins and the rod ends are left and right hand thread so it is lengthend and shortened by just twisting the bar and locked with jamb nuts. I am also very proud of the articulated mount for the light. As I have aged I have realized how important good light is. I just finished the light mount today. I have only a single lamp mounted but have another mount that will allow 2 lamps to be mounted to the arm in up to 4 different positions. It has more than enough movement to allow light virtually anywhere I need it even with the head rotated in the outboard position. Also the entire setup is powered off of a single 220V extension cord. And there are 4 accessory plugs two power lamps and two are for accessory tools like sanders, drills, routers etc.
This may not be my last lathe but I seems like it is going to serve me well for a good while. I am really enjoying it.
I am sorry for such a long post. I hope it helps someone with ideas. I know I learn so much from just reading post here.
Thanks,
Alan
I had been looking at full size lathes for the last 4 years and have gone from wanting the mild to the wild. I guess my dream lathe has been the big Vic VL300 long bed but I quickly realized it is a monster of a lathe and I was running out of shop space fast and was not very practical for me at this time not only because of space but cost was also a factor.
When I finally decided I was going to upgrade to a larger lathe I finally came to my senses and decided that a mid range lathe was more in my budget but still needed to fit in my shop. While I have a pretty large shop by most standards 25'x35' It is shared with my wife who is a silversmith and also serves as a reloading room for my competitive shooting habit and other duties such as laundry, insecticide storage, and other household duties including all my other woodworking equipment.
The 3 lathes I considered was the PM 3520B, Jet 1642, and the Nova DVR XP. With the 3520 and the Jet I still ran into footprint issues and the Nova had many features I liked especially the footprint, but being a benchtop lathe I knew I would have to get into design and construction mode to come up with a stable platform for the lathe and I was unsure if I felt like tackling such a project because of the time involved. I also have had a chance to play with both the PM and the jet but did not have a chance to turn on the DVR. The October Woodcraft sale along with the recent tilt away hinge accessory for the bed extension sent me over the edge. I still wanted to be able to turn longer spindles as the need arose but did not want a permanent long bed lathe. I purchased the DVR package and started to work a few hours a week on the stand. I did not finish this stand until about the middle of this month and did not get a chance to do much turning until this last week.
Needless to say I am beyond pleased with its performance and very proud how well it came out. I had posted progress shots on some other forums as the building progressed but wanted to hold off and see how it performed before posting here. I am always humbled by the talent that post here. I am generally a lurker unless I feel I can give useful constructive content. I think in this case while some of the content may not be new, I think it is in how it relates to the DVR and may be of assistant to others with the same lathe or wanting to build a stable stand.
The stand is all constructed of scrap steel purchased from a local recycling steel sales yard. Total investment in steel is about $150 The construction was done in my shop and a friend that has a fabrication shop that allows me to use his tools. Of course there was the lunch fees. I always took my buddy to lunch in appreciation of use of tools and his shop. About $20 each visit and about 5 of those. Also the leveling casters, rod ends, and tube adapters, and electrical were about another $250. So I guess about $500 total investment in the stand.
The weight of the entire package is north of 830lbs. with ballast installed. There is about 70lbs. of sand in the center tube that the lathe bolts to as a vibration damper, and another seven 50lb. bags of sand in the ballast box. The majority of the steel is 3/16" steel with a few pieces of 5/8", 1/4" and 1/2" steel. All the fabrication and welding was done by myself and all the welds were done with the TIG except four welds where I could not get the torch head in a good position so I MIG'ed those areas.
The stand is incredibly rigid and stable. I could probably increased stability even more if I splayed the legs toward the front but wanted clear area for my feet and with the weight it is a very stable platform. Two areas that I am particularly proud of is the bar with the rod ends that support the swing away bed section. I wanted to make that section as stable as possible but still make it a quick setup. This worked very well as can be seen by me sitting on the bed section. It is also a quick set up because it attaches with clevis pins and the rod ends are left and right hand thread so it is lengthend and shortened by just twisting the bar and locked with jamb nuts. I am also very proud of the articulated mount for the light. As I have aged I have realized how important good light is. I just finished the light mount today. I have only a single lamp mounted but have another mount that will allow 2 lamps to be mounted to the arm in up to 4 different positions. It has more than enough movement to allow light virtually anywhere I need it even with the head rotated in the outboard position. Also the entire setup is powered off of a single 220V extension cord. And there are 4 accessory plugs two power lamps and two are for accessory tools like sanders, drills, routers etc.
This may not be my last lathe but I seems like it is going to serve me well for a good while. I am really enjoying it.
I am sorry for such a long post. I hope it helps someone with ideas. I know I learn so much from just reading post here.
Thanks,
Alan
